A ninth inning run wasn’t enough for the Rays to come out ahead of the Marlins in extra innings. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays look to bounce back against the Miami Marlins, after dropping an extra inning loss Monday night, 3-2. A win would get the Rays back over the .500 mark. Tampa Bay starts the day 2-8 in games against the National League this season.

The Rays had been planning to use RHP Ryne Stanek as Tuesday night’s opener, getting the first three to six outs. However, after he pitched the 10th inning Monday night, Ryan Yarbrough will function as the traditional starter instead.

The New What Next

Ryan Yarbrough allowed one just earned run on seven hits and a walk over 6-1/3 innings of hard luck loss to Houston on Thursday. He struck out four. Yarbrough entered the game with two outs in the second inning and worked into and out of trouble for a considerable amount of his appearance. However, the southpaw managed to coax 10 groundballs and allowed only one extra-base hit — a home run to Jake Marisnick — which limited the damage. He also threw 62 of 95 pitches for strikes. It was a nice bounce back performance for Yarbrough, who allowed 15 earned runs over four of his last six outings.

Trevor Richards gave up three runs on six hits and two walks while fanning three batters over 4.0 innings against the Diamondbacks. Arizona got to Richards early, scratching all of their runs across over the first two frames. Even though Richards was BABIP’d, his command was shaky from the start, as 28 of his 75 pitches went for balls (37% ball rate). Overall, Richards was hot and cold in the month June, following up strong quality starts with subpar work. He has pitched against AL East teams (Boston and Baltimore) twice this season and has allowed 11 runs across 7-2/3 innings. This season he has relied primarily on his 92 mph four-seam fastball and a whiffy 84 mph changeup swith ome natural sink to it, while also mixing in a hard 81 mph 12-6 curveball.

Rays 7/3/18 Starting Lineup

Noteworthiness

— Chris Archer, who threw a 46-pitch simulated game on Thursday, and a 65-pitch bullpen on Saturday, is slated to make a rehab start Tuesday with Class-A Advanced Charlotte, with a decision pending whether he could return after that (July 8 in New York, or July 9 at home) or make a second rehab appearance. Archer will throw four innings or 60 pitches, whichever comes first.

We’ll monitor the weather, Rays manager Cash said. If it means we’ve got to delay (the start) for 35 minutes or somebody else needs to start the game to make sure Arch gets his 65-70 pitches in we’ll do that.

— Yonny Chirinos, who was recently placed on the Triple-A disabled list, threw a 35-pitch bullpen on Sunday and is reportedly feeling better and on the upswing.

— The International Signing Period began on Monday, and the Rays signed five of the top 50 prospects (per Baseball America) in this year’s class.

Today is an exciting day for the organization and I’m really proud of the job our scouting group did to put us in position to add this much talent into the system, international scouting director Carlos Rodriguez said. Our organization is built on our ability to add high end talent and develop it. We feel we’ve added a strong collection of tools and skills that have a chance to impact the organization in the years to come and we will continue to add the best possible players going forward as today signals the beginning of the 2018-2019 signing period.

The Rays reportedly agreed to a $1.4-million with Pie the big, athletic, highly touted and talented shortstop, although the team has not confirmed the deal.

At the plate, Pie exhibits above-average bat speed and projects to have above-average power in the future. And while Baseball America pegs him as “an athletic shortstop with plus speed and a plus arm,” it is thought he projects more as an outfielder, where his speed — he is clocked in the 6.65 second range in the 60-yard run — translates into the ability to cover a lot of ground.

The Polonius twins are southpaw-hitting shortstops who both are 6 feet and 140 pounds. Ryson (ranked 30th) and Rainer (ranked 31st) are quick, fast and athletic, although both need to gain weight and strength.

Estanli Castillo is regarded for his raw power and batting practice power shows in the Dominican Republic.

Jesse Sanchez (MLB.com) wrote about the rules surrounding the International Signing Period:

According to the rules established by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, clubs — like the Rays — that received a Competitive Balance Pick in Round B of the MLB Draft received a pool of $6,025,400, while clubs that received a Competitive Balance Pick in Round A of the Draft received $5,504,500. All other clubs received $4,983,500.

Teams are allowed to trade as much of their international pool money as they would like, but can only acquire 75 percent of a team’s initial pool amount. Additionally, signing bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count toward a club’s bonus pool, and foreign professional players who are at least 25 and have played in a foreign league for at least six seasons are also exempt.

A ton of meatheads left “their homes in New York” and turned out for the Yankees last night. They enjoyed watching the Bronx Bummers get held to just one run. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

The Tampa Bay Rays took a two-run lead against CC Sabathia in the middle innings, then held on to win the first of a three-game series, 2-1 over the New York Yankees. Tampa Bay has won its last two games against New York, holding the Yankees to just one run in each contest.

The Tandem of Ryne Stanek and Ryan Yarbrough opened/started the game against the American League’s best team (that is, if we are looking at W/L record alone).

Stanek, despite throwing 25 pitches, and allowed a runner to second with none out — thanks to a base hit by Brett Gardner and an error by Carlos Gomez — yet no runs. The right-hander caught Aaron Judge looking, coaxed a ground ball from Giancarlo Stanton, and ended the frame on a fly ball to center from Gary Sanchez to strand Gardner at third, ending the threat.

Ryan Yarbrough walked three over 3-1/3 scoreless innings; allowing a double to Aaron Hicks to start the second. He, however, did not allow a runner beyond second base.

Diego Castillo followed Yarbrough, and though he walked the first batter he faced, Castillo retired the next five hitters in a row, striking out a pair. Adames punctuated a scoreless fifth inning with a leaping catch of a Didi Gregorious liner to short.

As for Castillo, he’s now thrown scoreless ball in five straight outings, covering seven innings.

Meanwhile, the Rays took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning against Grimmace…erm, Sabathia. Daniel Robertson got things started when he lashed a one out double down the left field line, and into the corner, before Carlos Gomez was hit by a pitch. Willy Adames followed with a bloop single to right, scoring Robertson from second for the lead.

Gomez advanced to third, and Adames moved up to second on the throw home.

Sabathia was able to limit the damage, getting Johnny Field to ground to third, with Gomez thrown out between third and home, thanks to some poor base running on his part That’s not entirely unexpected out of Gomez, after all we’ve seen plenty of base running gaffes from the right fielder. Kevin Kiermaier bounced to short to end the inning.

Tampa Bay extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth, although they did leave a lot of chicken on the bone in the process. Matt Duffy led off the frame with a comebacker that Sabathia deflected, then threw past Greg Bird for an infield hit and an error, allowing Duffy to move into second. Duffy was able to move up 90 feet when Wilson Ramos notched an infield hit that spun past Miguel Andujar. C.J. Cron made a bid for extra bases, lifting a ball to deep right field, however, Stanton made a leaping catch at the wall, relegating Cron to a sacrifice-fly and just one RBI. With Sabathia on the ropes, Jake Bauers grounded into an inning ending double play, limiting the damage.

After Tampa Bay left the bases juiced for the second time in the contest, in the sixth inning, New York got on the board in the seventh. Chaz Roe appeared to want nothing to do with Gleyber Torres and walked the second baseman on four pitches with one out. Gardner followed with a seeing-eye single to right, putting runners on the corners for Judge. With the Yankee fans in attendance loud and on their feet, the mighty Judge hit a weak looper to right, off the end of his bat, making it a one-run game. Roe came back to retire Stanton on a soft comebacker.

Kevin Cash called on left hander Jose Alvarado to face the southpaw hitting Gregorious with a pair of runners in scoring position. Alvarado fell behind 2-0 before he got Gregorius to hit a broken-bat grounder to second, ending the threat.

Alvarado followed with a 1-2-3 eighth, despite falling behind all three batters.

Sergio Romo came on to close out the game in the ninth. And though he allowed a leadoff single to Andujar, Romo got Gleyber Torres to fly to left for the first out. With the game in the balance and a dangerous hitter at the plate, Romo fell behind Gardner 3-2 before he coaxed a game ending 6-3 double play.

All told, the Rays collected 10 hits: three from Wilson Ramos, and two apiece from Duffy, Gomez and Adames. Even though they failed to score more than four runs for the 10th consecutive game, they improved to 5-5 in those games.

The New What Next

Game two of the series is on Saturday in what is expected to be a sell out. Wilmer Font (0-1, 2.20 ERA with Tampa Bay) will get the start opposite of Sonny Gray (5-4, 4.89 ERA).

Wilmer Font has made three consecutive starts, pitching deeper each time — going from 2-1/3 innings to 3-1/3 to 4-2/3 against the Yankees on Sunday. The right-hander has allowed three runs on eight hits during that 10-1/3-inning stretch, lowering his ERA from +12 to 7.56. And while Rays remain committed to using an “opener” three times in five game stretches, Font showed that he should be able to handle starting, at least until Chris Archer returns.

Sonny Gray allowed two runs on six hits and one walk over five innings on Monday. He struck out seven. Aside from the second and fourth innings, when Gray put multiple men aboard and allowed an RBI groundout and a sacrifice-fly, he limited baserunners effectively. He pounded the strike zone at a 71% clip while coaxing 16 whiffs. Six groundball outs also helped him mitigate the damage. Gray has begun to turn things around after an abysmal start and has now allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his last six starts, allowing him to lower his ERA to 4.89. This season Gray has relied primarily on his 94 mph four-seam fastball with some natural sinking action, 94 mph sinker with armside run and above average velocity, and an 82 mph curveball with sweeping glove-side movement and exceptional bit, while also mixing in an 86 mph sweeping slider with exceptional depth. Key Matchups: Matt Duffy (1-3, HR, 2 RBI), Adeiny Hechavarria (2-6, HR, RBI), Kevin Kiermaier (4-16, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI), Wilson Ramos (3-11, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB), Mallex Smith (3-9)

Rays 6/23/18 Starting Lineup

(Photo Credit: Steve Carney)

Noteworthiness

— Yes, you saw correctly, Joey Wendle will make the start in right field today, hitting fifth. Wendle told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) he’s never played outfield at any level with the exception of “a couple of emergency innings when I was 13 or 14.” He, however, is excited for the opportunity. Wendle has been working with Kevin Kiermaier and Rocco Baldelli and reportedly seemed surprised about starting in right, telling reporters who were asking about it pregame:

I hope it’s a non-story after the game.

— RHP Chris Archer told reporters he feels great today after throwing a 20-pitch bullpen on Friday. He is “highly encouraged” by how he feels and will throw another bullpen on Monday. He is hoping for an early July return.

— The Rays rotation is getting a bit of a flip-flop, as to be determined moves from Monday’s starter to Sunday, and Blake Snell will now pitch on Monday vs the Nationals.

— Not only do I love what Pride stands for, I love that the routing — and timing of tonight’s parade — is going to make it incredibly difficult on the Yankees to get back to the team hotel. The parade starts after 7:00 and is routed near the Vinoy, where the Yankees are staying. Today’s ball game starts at 4:00 and should be over around the start of the parade.

Anthony Banda pitches in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Day game after a night game. The day after the Rays squandered a three-run advantage, only to retake the lead with two outs in the top of the ninth, Tampa Bay looks to sweep the Royals this afternoon in Kansas City.

The Rays collected their second consecutive one-run victory last night. Kelvin Herrera, who allowed just one run this season, took the mound the ninth for Kansas City with the game tied at five. Johnny Field, who entered for the injured Carlos Gomez, singled to center, before Jesus Sucre came up with his first, and arguably biggest, hit of the night — a single to right, moving Field up to second. After Denard Span lined out to center, and C.J. Cron popped out to right, Joey Wendle lashed a two-out single to left, scoring Field for the go ahead lead.

The Rays put the lead-off man on base in the first, third, sixth and ninth innings, and scored in each frame.

Meanwhile, Anthony Banda, who was acquired from Arizona in the Steven Souza Jr. trade, made his Rays debut. Banda efficiently cruised through the Royals lineup, setting a quick pace and inducing lots of contact — prior to the fifth inning he had struck out only one batter. But it appeared that the wheels might fall off for the southpaw in that frame. As Banda pounded the zone, the Royals began to hit squibbers that found holes.

A pair of leadoff singles and a sacrifice bunt later, Kansas City had runners on second and third with just one out. Banda came back and coaxed a soft grounder to short out of Ryan Goins that was scored as an RBI fielder’s choice. The next batter, Whit Merrifield, sent a liner to left that dropped just in front of Span, who struggled with the ball. Merrifield tried to stretch his single into a double, and Span gunned him down at second. The Rays got out of the inning with the lead, yet the Royals cut the deficit to one. Kansas City later tied the game against the tandem of Jose Alvarado and Sergio Romo.

That’s not to say Banda performed poorly, because he didn’t. The left-hander went five innings, and didn’t walk a batter. He struck out one and threw just 52 pitches (38 strikes, 73% strike ratio), although he allowed three runs on six hits. He will remain with the team, although it is not clear whether he will get the start on Sunday on normal rest.

The New What Next

The Rays will go for the sweep of Kansas City on Wednesday afternoon, their first in over six years. Jake Faria (3–2, 5.09 ERA) will get the start for Tampa Bay, pitching opposite of former Ray Jason Hammel (0–4, 6.13 ERA).

Jake Faria took a loss against the Orioles on Friday, after he coughed up seven runs on eight hits and a walk over six-plus innings. He struck out three. The right-hander would have come away with a quality start if he’d exited after six innings, but Faria instead came out for the seventh and, after a solo homer by Mark Trumbo, loaded the bases with nobody out on a single, a hit by pitch and a walk before getting the hook in favor of Ryne Stanek, who served up a grand slam to Manny Machado. Previous to that outing, Faria threw three quality starts in four tries, including a dominant 8 IP/3 H performance against Detroit two turns ago.

Jason Hammel, the former Ray, allowed nine runs over 3-2/3 innings in his last start against Cleveland, four of which were scored in the first inning. He is still searching for his first win of the season, and has posted just three quality starts of his eight total. The scouting report on Hammel: this season he has relied primarily on his 92 mph sinker with two plane movement and an 85 mph slider, while also mixing in a 92 mph four-seam fastball, a 78 mph curveball with sharp downward bite and glove side movement, and a firm 86 mph changeup with slight arm side fade. He is 2-3 with a 4.89 ERA in seven career starts against his former team. Key Matchups: Matt Duffy (1-2), Brad Miller (2-8, HR, 2 RBI), Wilson Ramos (4-12, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Mallex Smith (2-2)

Following the game, Duffy said he didn’t think hamstring issue will land him on the disabled list, although he figures to be out Wednesday and possibly Thursday. Gomez doesn’t know how long he will be our since he has never had groin issues before.

— Johnny Venters was credited with the win last night, his first in 2,096 games.

First win for #Rays Venters since 8-17-12 with #Braves, 2,096 days ago. Since then, 1,059 different pitchers got wins. Said Venters: “It was a long time ago.”

The offense returned in the Rays 6-2 win over Toronto, on Friday. (Photo Credit: Anthony Ateek/X-Rays Spex)

Ryan Yarbrough — the southpaw hurler recalled from Durham in Yonny Chirinos’ absence — posted five innings of one-hit, shutout ball on Friday night, as the Tampa Bay Rays began a three-game series with a 6–2 win over the Blue Jays. It was the team’s fifth consecutive home win.

The Blue Jays took the initial lead four batters into the ballgame against Andrew Kittredge, who was announced as the starter on Thursday. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a hustle double to left-center ahead of Josh Donaldson, who walked. Yangervis Solarte hit a deep fly to the warning track right, allowing Granderson to move up to third. The left-fielder inevitably came home on Teoscar Hernandez’s sacrifice-fly to center.

Granderson, however, was pulled from the game as a precaution with right hamstring tightness, and replaced with Dalton Pompey.

One lone run would be all that Kittredge would allow over his two innings of work, setting the table for Yarbrough in the top of the third inning.

Meanwhile, the Rays got on the board in the third inning against J.A. Happ. Johnny Field hit a two-out, line drive homer to left — his second big league homer, and first at home.

It was also the team’s first extra base hit since the ninth inning of Monday night’s ball game against Detroit (a span of 23 innings).

Yarbrough kicked off his outing by allowing a hit to his first batter, Pompey, but retired his next 15 hitters in order — moving the ball around the zone along the way. Yarbrough fanned four, threw 40 of 58 pitches for strikes (69% strike ratio) and needed just under 12 pitches per inning to get the job done. If this was an audition to replace Yonny Chirinos in the fourth starter role on a regular basis, Yarbrough did exceedingly well.

I know after I got done, a couple of guys were like, ‘Man, you were working really fast out there,’ said Yarbrough, who tossed 40 of his 58 pitches for strikes.

I was really just trying to get the ball and get back after it, stay aggressive, and just keep ’em off balance by throwing some cutters in. And when they started looking for it, mixing some stuff away.

Tampa Bay moved ahead for good in the fourth inning, and the go ahead rally started with a lead-off walk by C.J. Cron against Happ, his second free pass of the game. Matt Duffy followed, rolling a single to center before Wilson Ramos ripped a line drive base hit to right-center, plating Cron and moving Duffy to third. The hit extended Ramos’ hit streak to 12 games, two shy of the franchise record for a Rays backstop (Toby Hall, 14, 2001). Two batters later, Duffy came home when Toronto couldn’t turn Denard Span’s grounder into a double play, putting the Rays up by a pair.

Happ had to be bailed out of a bases-loaded jam by Jake Petricka in the sixth, after he gave up a one-out single to Duffy, walked Daniel Robertson on four pitches, and then allowed another free pass to Denard Span. Petricka coaxed a fly-ball out to left to end the threat.

The Rays were able to tack on another run in the seventh, much to the chagrin of Jays’ skipper John Gibbons. Field doubled off the wall in right with one out — his second hit of the night — before Adeiny Hechavarria singled to left, scoring Field for a three-run advantage.

Sergio Romo took over in the eighth, and quickly worked over former Ray Luke Maile on four pitches. However, the soft tossing right-hander left a fastball over the heart of the zone, on the very next pitch, which Aledmys Dias deposited into the left-field seats. Romo settled down and ended the inning on a high note, fanning Pompey and coaxing a fly-ball out from Donaldson.

Brad Miller, clearly uncomfortable with just a two-run lead, hit a no doubt, two-run blast to left in the bottom of the inning off fellow southpaw Tim Mayza for a four-run lead.

Finally, Alex Colome worked an impressive ninth — albeit one that was dragon bit by the catwalks — to close out the game with a win. When asked why he turned to Colome with a four-run lead, Rays manager Kevin Cash said he wanted to give Colome some work.

I don’t wanna go five, six or seven days without him pitching. With the way his first month has gone, he’ll benefit from some consistent work.

The New What Next

The Rays and Toronto play the second of three games on Saturday. Jake Faria (2–1, 4.60 ERA) will get the start opposite of right-hander Aaron Sanchez (2–2, 4.06 ERA).

Jake Faria became the first Tampa Bay hurler to pitch eight full innings in a ball game since Alex Cobb in July of 2017. After a first inning walk of the number two hitter, Jeimer Candelario, the right-hander coaxed a ground ball double play and went to work. Faria was sharp over the balance of his start, mixing fastballs and off speed stuff, while limiting deep counts, and maintaining a quick pace. The right-hander blanked the Tigers and allowed just three hits and one walk. He fanned six, relying heavily on his four-seam fastball to set up his splitter, which he got most his whiffs on.

Aaron Sanchez allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts over six innings on Monday against the Twins. It was the first time in five starts that Sanchez failed to record a quality start, although his offense bailed him out with six runs in the first five innings. The ground baller added another 10 to his total, but his control wasn’t there and he threw just 55 strikes in 93 pitches (59% strike ratio), walked three batters, and hit another. Sanchez’s 4.06 ERA is due in large part to a 4.3 BB/9, not to mention that he also has now hit six batters. This season he has relied primarily on a 94 mph sinker with obvious tailing action, a hard 89 mph changeup with arm-side fade, and a whiffy 94 mph four-seam fastball, while also mixing in a 79 mph curveball with downward bite and glove-side movement. Key Matchups: Mallex Smith (1-1, 2 BB), Jesus Sucre (2-3, 2B)

Cough…perhaps if the ownership showed more than contempt for the Rays fan-base, more than 10,000 fans would turn out. (Photo Credit: Anthony Ateek/X-Rays Spex)

After winning three consecutive games for the first time this season, the Tampa Bay Rays seek their first series sweep this afternoon against the Minnesota Twins. For context, the Rays collected just two series sweeps in 2017. Tampa Bay is coming off a 10–1 shellacking, marking the best offensive output by the team this (young) season.

The Rays hit three home runs yesterday, their most in a game this year. Prior to Cron’s two homers — Daniel Robertson hit the third — Tampa Bay had gone homerless for 21 innings.

Meanwhile, Blake Snell collected his third consecutive win. Snell could have let a first inning run shake him, however, he locked it in from that point on and attacked the zone. The southpaw hurled seven superb innings (the longest start for a Rays starter this season) and allowed just one run on five scattered hits and no walks. He struck out six.

Snell told Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) that he was proud to not allow a walk in the game, and that consistency, like he’s attained his past few starts, is his goal.

Yonny Chirinos (0–1, 2.70) will get the start for the Rays this afternoon, pitching opposite of Phil Hughes (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

This will be the right-hander’sofficially first start since he was named to the starting rotation, joining Chris Archer, Blake Snell and Jake Faria.

Rays skipper Kevin Cash said he is confident that Chirinos has been built up enough to throw 100-pitches or so:

I just think where he got built up with his pitch count, he’s comfortable now that he can provide right around that 100-pitch count, Cash said. We’ve been going back and forth with it. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to build these guys up. … I think we’re in a better spot now with Yonny in the rotation. Right now, we’ve got him penciled in to pitch every fifth day for us when that spot comes up.

Chirinos did not allow a run in his first three outings (14-1/3 innings), but he allowed six in 5-2/3 innings his last time out, against Texas.

I started off well, and that bad outing, all you can do is learn from it, Chirinos said, through Rays interpreter Manny Navarro. I’m going to come out there prepared and hope for the best in my next start, then just learn from it. And always stay positive.

Phil Hughes will come off the DL to make his first start of the season — his first start since May of last year, as he was recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome.